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Come to our February support group for sex workers*, current and former. Whether you are in need of resources, support, or can provide support for others or just need a space to vent, please join us!

Location and details:

Howard Brown – 4025 N Sheridan, Room B (ask at the front desk for them to direct you into Room B in the back because you have to go through a locked door)

Saturday, February 3, 1:15pm-2:45pm

We will have refreshments and suggest a donation of 10 dollars, or whatever you feel comfortable giving. Please send us a message if anyone needs a ride so we can arrange help getting to and from the meeting. It is a short walk from the Sheridan Redline stop.

18+ only

*sex workers include strippers, escorts, pro domes/subs/fetish workers, phone/cam workers, and other work that offers erotic services for something of value.

For additional questions contact group facilitator Cassandra D. at 708-320-3078

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Come to our January support group for sex workers*, current and former. Whether you are in need of resources, support, or can provide support for others or just need a space to vent, please join us!

Location and details:

Howard Brown – 4025 N Sheridan, Room B

Saturday, January 6, 1:15pm-2:45pm

We will have refreshments and suggest a donation of 10 dollars, or whatever you feel comfortable giving. Please send us a message if anyone needs a ride so we can arrange help getting to and from the meeting. It is a short walk from the Sheridan Redline stop.

18+ only

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Each year on December 17th, sex workers and our allies join together to honor sex workers whose lives have been lost and to recommit ourselves to the struggle to end violence, stigma, and criminalization of sex workers. This year, we are observing December 17th with a protest followed by a community gathering and vigil. Information and links to Facebook events are below. Please join us!

Chicago sex workers and allies are outraged at the murder of a Queen’s massage parlor worker, Yang Song, this past weekend at the hands of the NYPD. We will gather to lift up one of our lost and express our collective rage.

If these massage parlor raids continue more workers will die, be incarcerated, deported. Stop criminalizing sex work. Stop criminalizing working people. Stop targeting parlors. Get out of parlors and stay out!

How can these massage parlor raids be justified when women are dying?!

Meet at Daley Plaza, by the Picasso Statue at 12PM. This meeting location is symbolic, it’s right outside Sheriff Tom Dart’s office. Tom Dart conducts stings and raids against sex working people and our clients all the time, resulting in incarceration, deportation and loss of income and life.

December 17th is International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, join us to demand an end to police terror.

***We will have bandanas on hand if you need to protect your identity, send us a message before the event. Mask up as you feel comfortable.

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Please donate here to support our important street outreach efforts!https://www.youcaring.com/swopchicago-1005658
“Many of the most marginalized and vulnerable members of the sex work community are street-based. In a time of increased criminalization of sex work—which disproportionately affects people of color, trans and gender nonconforming people, and people with undocumented status—the urgency of meeting the needs of workers has only increased. Join us as we build community, resources, and support systems together! We are thankful for donations of any size — small or large, every dollar helps the community!”

We have a ***New Location*** for our regular monthly meetings. Thank you to the Read/Write Library Chicago!

Join us as we look ahead to plans for activism and community in the coming months. We’ll be discussing the upcoming International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers (Dec 17), our legal clinic, street outreach, support group, and upcoming events.

We meet every second Wednesday at 7pm. All sex workers and allies are welcome!

New volunteers may email mike@swop-chicago.org for more info on how to get involved.

As we enter Chicago winter, consider supporting the street-based sex work community in our city! Your donation to SWOP-Chicago allows us to continue seeing over 100 street-based workers a week at three different locations. We provide free condoms, HIV testing, clean needles, toiletries, snacks, and legal resources. By offering a consistent presence on the street, led by and for sex workers, we hope to provide a safe space for people to access resources, network, and support each other.

Many of the most marginalized and vulnerable members of the sex work community are street-based. In a time of increased criminalization of sex work—which disproportionately affects people of color, trans and gender nonconforming people, and people with undocumented status—the urgency of meeting the needs of workers has only increased. Join us as we build community, resources, and support systems together!

We are thankful for donations of any size — small or large, every dollar helps the community! We are also happy to offer special thank-yous for the following donors:

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On Tuesday, November 7, 2017, agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security raided a Youngsville, NC call center operated by Eros-Guide, a listing service widely used by adult providers to advertise their services and find work. Along with the shutdown earlier this year of adult advertising on Backpage, another listing service, this development compounds sex workers’ already-high risk of dangerous working conditions and economic precarity.

The raid was conducted under a warrant that alleged “cross-border illegal activity,” underscoring the crucial intersection of sex workers with immigrants and other groups made vulnerable by marginalization. Individuals frequently turn to sex work because their immigrant and/or other marginalized status excludes them from other jobs and sources of income. Immigrants, people of color, and LGBTQ people engaging in sex work are especially likely to be endangered by government shut-downs of resources such as Eros-Guides, which provide workers with a relatively safe forum in which to advertise and connect with clients.

Tuesday’s raid and similar law-enforcement events force sex workers into increasingly dangerous conditions, while doing little to curtail the sex trade or protect trafficked individuals. Without online spaces such as Eros to continue making a living, sex workers are forced further underground, into street-based work or organized crime spaces. This erases workers’ independence and reduces their earning potential, while placing them at greater risk of violence from pimps, clients, and law enforcement.

SWOP-Chicago joins the international sex-workers-rights community in condemning the criminalization of sex workers and their clients, and calling for the full decriminalization of the sex industry. Only decriminalization can address the endangerment and marginalization of sex workers, while keeping control of the market and working conditions in the hands of workers themselves. SWOP-Chicago embraces a harm-reduction model in advocating for the human rights of sex workers, while providing direct services to Chicago’s sex work community in the form of street-based outreach, free legal clinics, and support groups.